I'm moving the Sulla discussion here because (a) it really doesn't belong in a new-member intro, and (b) I don't need underage visitors or their parents seeing this in our most public space and suing us.

Everyone's wondering what awful circumstance could have possibly ended L Cornelius Sulla's active involvement with Nova Roma. I don't know the hows and whys of his actual disappearance either. It was not sudden; even back in 2005 it was noted that he'd missed a lot of Senate sessions. I agree that he would not have withdrawn from NR public life unless he absolutely had to. But, besides his health (which was at some risk due to excessive weight), there was at least one other thing that might have caught up with him.

When I met him, Sulla was in partnership with another Citizen who was in the pornography business. I'm not sure what Sulla's part in it was, but the other fellow directed the filming. I urged Sulla to disassociate himself from that activity if he wished to enter upon the Cursus Honorum. As far as I know, he did so. But Nova Roma had already been briefly investigated by the federal government for possible connections to child pornography. (To my knowledge, Sulla's associate confined his interest to adults. Not that that makes him virtuous or anything...) The Feds monitored our chats a time or two, which must have made for some interesting transcripts, as Sulla and I were in the habit of doing little skits involving Homeric Epic Battles and nailing peoples' heads to the Rostra...but no porn. End of story?

That was almost a decade ago. I'd like to think that my former amicus stayed clean. But if he didn't (and he was, at the time of his disappearance, still close friends with the other guy), he might have had to pack himself out in a hurry before the law got wind of him.

This is of course all speculation, but there may be something to this.
Just before he vanished for good, there was talk of Mos Maiorum, a group he and L. S. Drusus were starting. As far as I know it never got beyond the talk/planning phase.

Mos Maiorum was a secret, but as this was 4 years ago and nothing has come of it since, I do not feel bad in mentioning this. So not only did he dissapear from NR, but apparently abandoned the proposed Mos Maiorum as well.

I cannot remember specifics, but Drusus and the aformentioned pornographer seemed to know something about his dissapearence, but were keeping quiet about it.

Well, I wish him well. I know he and others were enemies, but he was friendly to me.

Maybe there is a lesson we can extract from all this: We cannot really know how our positions or actions or words will affect someone we cannot see on the other end of a comouter screen. Fiendships are made and ended over matters that in the big picture must look very small and insignificant indeed.

I for one am glad to have restored friendship with Marius Peregrinus and others, such as Ericius and Draco. I'll always wish Marcus Cassius Julianus and his wife well.

Sorry for rambling on like this. Since I turned 40, I'm more aware of my mortality. The fact of ENDINGS stares me in the face more now. Relationships should be broken over small crap...and much of what goes on is small crap.

I know this is old, but I have just come upon it. Put all the suspicions aside. Nothing happened. Sylla took a job with a steel company, lives in Arizona, and has a blog where he rants politics in the Rush Limbaugh style of not knowing and not caring of things he speaks, and his only other interest is a fascination for these two little girls who lipsynch at youtube. Of course he always did have a thing for little girls. Like the time I caught him trying to lure a sixteen year old to his appartment, or the time I caught him trying to lure a fourteen year old. You remember Lupini how one could sit in the chat room, observing, and never reveal your presence to others. Of course there was the other incident where he did entice a seventeen year old with false promising. I got an impression on how that turned out, but she wouldn't talk about it. Then there were those close associates who were regularly at Sylla's house to witness his taste for themselves. One now lives in Columbus, less than two-hours from me. We've spoke a few times. But then, of course, there was Sylla himself, drugged on pain pills after his liposuction left him a thin 400 pounds, and he was in such pain, before slowly drifting in drug induced stupor, just chatting away, as he did so like to chat, with me, a very good listerner, one trained in interrogation techniques, as a certain so-called porn film producer learned upon our first contact, and thus offered me to lead his "secret police". Well, things did not quite turn out as he thought.

BTW today, when I issued an edictum recognizing Marius' good work in Nova Roma, I also issued an edictum on Sylla. His reprimand also expired today. Thus, tongue in cheek, my arm twisted, but no more so than my face, I offered limited praise for Sylla, too.

You ask me, Sulla's reprimand was even more ridiculous than mine. When he was Propraetor of California he obtained (they said "hacked into") transcripts of Senate sessions. I totally supported him on this; they should have been made available to him to begin with. This was before Propraetores were allowed to sit in the Senate, but really--the Senate discusses things of interest to the Provinces; shouldn't the governors thereof know what's going on?

You done damn good on my Edict, mi Horati. It was more than I expected and the best I could have hoped for. I think that takes care of things...certainly from my end; I no longer feel like some sliver of my honor is still trapped behind enemy lines, and I'm sure Nova Roma will appreciate finally having "Fimbria's" ghost laid to rest.

Hmmm....substitute Barack Obama for Rush Limbaugh and we might be more in alignment But let's not go there....

Well, I'm happy for him that he's doing well, though I do have to wonder why he just dropped out of NR as he did. Still, that's his choice and his business I guess. Maybe he just got burnt out by it all and lost interest as others have done.

I don't know anything about "secret police". {The man in question had/has a tendency to make himself out to be something much more important than he is.} What I can say is that after SVR began, there was very real concern that NR would be sabotaged by SVR members, just as people here had the same fear of NR. But there was no effort at this by anyone in NR as far as I know, and I suspect NRs fears of SVR were also overblown.

In the early days there were a couple of incidents. One in particular was traced back to the Back Alley. It turned out to be a good thing as it produced an unofficial cooperation between the NR consuls and the SVR consuls of the time. And now I am NR consul, which is strange to me still, half way through my term, and Octavius is a curator in SVR! No one would have guess this result in 2002.

A bit strange over there. Vedius got upset that no one would listen to him, and didn't like that as a corporation, in order to do simple things like open bank accounts, we needed corporate resolutions from the Board of Directors, rather than senatus consulti. Therefore he quit the Senate. Then Cassius started whining about how he was being persecute, and Octavius got fed up with it, so he left. Austur quit when he was asked to become PM in Cassius' place. Cassius went beserk before being tossed from the CP and hasn't been in the Senate lately either. Sicinius and Scaurus are also gone. Patricia resigned. And Cincinnatus is stewing somewhere. This was all the Great Purge, as Octavius put it. Somehow people leaving on their own accord isn't exactly a purge in my book. Vedius always use to tell me, "If you don't like it leave!" He didn't like it with me as consul so he left. What purge? Anyway, the story is up on the website, more than one version, too, I think.

So now the atmosphere over there is rather different. Not entirely, but some might say it is turning into another SVR. Cassius, for example, might say so, as he accused SVR of trying to steal the money and offices from true Nova Romans, or whatever else he wants to call himself. By the time he left, nobody much cared. Well, no, it is not another SVR. But it isn't a circus either now without the clowns.

Nova Roma has at least another ten years and a total reboot to go before it comes anywhere near even dreaming about speculating about wishing to try to become another SVR. There's still too much "corporate culture", that being the customs, attitudes, and general BS that have evolved in that Place, to overcome. Newbies see the infighting and--if they don't seek refuge over here, involve themselves locally, or leave outright--they "grow up" as Romans thinking that's the way things are done, that that's how Romans are supposed to behave. The thing perpetuates itself. We've laid my particular demons to rest, but that is not the same as Nova Roma reinventing itself.

Mi Iohanne, the "Back Alley" is a List set up maybe ten years ago by a self-proclaimed Priestess and revolving-door citizen for the purpose of priming the NR gossip mill. I have one nice thing to say about it: It gave most of the toxic waste somewhere else to go besides the Main List. Other'n that, it has probably done as much as anything else to poison NR's corporate culture, by providing a haven for people who like their NR politics well-seasoned with plotting and "factions".

The "Back Alley" is a very, very, very unofficial NR Yahoogroup where anything goes. Nothing is off topic there and some people in NR think it is a official list and it's not. Some people get really pissed when they are talked about on it because discussions held there are usually "no hold's barred". And some in NR really get mad about the list because NR has no control over it.

Everyone, meet L Ovidius Ursus, formerly Romulus Iulius Ursus, Sodalis since August of 2002, and a close friend of mine since the days (nine years gone now) when Nova Roma was giving me all that Trouble. We had some correspondence about that then, and, like now, this good and empathetic man could not believe such malicious pettiness could ever prosper in any organisation claiming inheritance of Rome's legacy.

There, mi Urse, you've been vouched for. Unfortunately, I must also vouch for the stone-cold reality of this thread. The matter of my visit to Sulla and my efforts to get him out of the porn business...mid-July of 1999, and I still have the e-mails to prove it. The rumors of his disappearance and the actions of Fabulously Maximal regarding it...see relevant messages on the [RomanOutpost] List, beginning on 22 Feb 2006, and QFM's recent Censorial Nota for the same thing. The umpteen Let-me-count-the-ways in which "the Roman Republic Reborn" saw fit to harrass me are, most of them, now matters of public record; I made sure of that--see article on "The Fimbria Controversies" in the NR Wiki, and be sure to follow *all* the links. Even with revoking my reprimand last year, then-Consul Piscinus could only talk them into assigning it an expiration date--but he *did* make a Truly Awesome speech addressing my place in NR and the neo-Roman movement nowadays. (I must be the only resigned former member of NR who is even acknowledged as still having a place in their scheme of things...)

Just recently Sulla threatened to sue Nova Roma Inc. for his "unlawful" removal from the Senate-slash-Board of Directors. This after he'd stayed gone long enough to run afoul of the rules for retaining his status. Sure enough, he got his seat back, and is now making a pest of himself in...wait for it...Provincia America Austroccidentalis, which I used to govern, and which includes the US states of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

I can't believe that I missed this topic before, since it's been around for quite some time, apparently. So that doughmonster is still alive eh.

About a year ago I skimmed through NR's mailing list for old time's sake, and at one point I saw a post from either QFM or LSD which suggested they're not really on friendly terms with him anymore. So unless I got the wrong impression, does anyone know why?

There must be some kind of thing about sulla. From what I can tell people hate him and think he is vile(because he truly is). I had no idea he was in the porn business but it does not surprise me one bit.

But the weird thing is, there are people who actually defend him. People who are otherwise intelligent and normal, they actually find cause to defend his actions and attack anyone who tries to discredit him. It is absolutely astounding.

For an example, it came to light on the main list what sulla has been saying on the back alley. Things such as his despise for nova roma and it's members and that it's his goal to completely fuck over nova roma and the people he had vendettas against. His own words were cited. Now, normally if one were to see this they would be appalled with sulla, a senator in nova roma who regularly blasphemes and defames others(including religious clergy). But for some reason all of that was ignored and instead the person who posted these insights into sulla's character was attacked vehemently. Attacked for citing a post from another mailing list(the BA), attacked for stirring up trouble on the main list(as if that doesn't happen on a regular basis), and attacked for insulting the great sulla.

I simply cannot concieve how sulla has been able to turn these people into his sycophants; he has no charisma, he has no charm. He has no redeeming quality about him. The one thing that is frequently cited(in fact the only thing that is cited) is his past activities in Nova Roma. This means absolutely nothing to me, I can't fathom how those past actions mitigates his complete and utter disrespect for anyone and everything that doesn't agree with him.

Every single organization I am in, if any member had tried to sue like sulla had, they would most certainly not be a member let alone on the board of directors.

So if I am reading this thread right, Sulla has engaged an attorney {I am assuming paying some minimal fee at least} to sue to stay in the senate of an organization he did not give a damn about for several years and does not care about now?

The man has no life it seems.

Oh, and let me guess: Sulla is claiming his actions are not for himself, but for Rome! {A cliche in Roman movies spoken when one is doing something for himself, and not for Rome.}

But he is not alone there. Cassius and Vedius are both eunuchs. If my wife was either driven out or felt compelled to leave an organization of which I was a member, I would exit as well to support my wife. But Cassius and Vedius? Their women have more balls than they do. And Vedius is a coward who deleted a bunch of mailing lists when he last quit NR, and then when he humbly came back seeking readmission with his cur's tail between his legs he claims it was his wife who did that!

I was a subscriber to the Mediatlantica list back then, and Vedius was the owner. Not his wife. Vedius deleted that list in a tantrum. Not his wife. Whether he or his wife deleted the old ML I do not know. But they did it together. Then for this no-balled Father of the Mailing list to come groveling back and blaming the wife for his behavior shows he is not even a man.

Marius' seem to be bona fide, but Piscinus' is an outright lie. I worked with that man on his Consular staff, and almost nothing that man said was true. Not to mention those "underage girls" that he mentioned are older than me. They're mature women, not "little girls" as Piscinus has tried to portray them. You know what's sick? Not Sulla, but Piscinus who sees pedophilia everywhere. Reminds me of those Republican crusaders who go on and on lambasting gays and then they turn up in a hotel room with a gay prostitute and crystal meth.

Marius' seem to be bona fide, but Piscinus' is an outright lie. I worked with that man on his Consular staff, and almost nothing that man said was true. Not to mention those "underage girls" that he mentioned are older than me. They're mature women, not "little girls" as Piscinus has tried to portray them. You know what's sick? Not Sulla, but Piscinus who sees pedophilia everywhere. Reminds me of those Republican crusaders who go on and on lambasting gays and then they turn up in a hotel room with a gay prostitute and crystal meth.

You're younger than 14?

Sulla had admitted to being in the "adult business" on the back alley. I don't see how piscinus lied at all(outright or otherwise).